


The sound of sirens

by Almond22



Category: Original Work
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Drowning, Mentions of Myth & Folklore, Sirens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:54:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25107298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Almond22/pseuds/Almond22





	The sound of sirens

**A sailor went to sea**

Light filtered down through the boards of the deck into the hold. It pierced through the humid air, illuminating tiny dust particles. The light danced it's way to the floor in graceful beams, some were caught by barrels of water or wine, others by packaged meat and food, one bounced back, it was reflected.

Her silver necklace gleams. She wished to see the sea, to stand in the middle of the never-ending abyss of blue. But alas, women were unheard of and scorned in such deep waters. They were perceived to bring destruction, storms and terrifying monsters upon a crew of men. If she were to be found, she would surely be thrown overboard to save the ship and therefore the crew from the doom that she brought on board.

Thinking back to her home was pointless, this rash decision which brought her on board this ship would surely end in peril. She would never return. The gods would see to that.

_Back against the crimson sky, she stood, looking at her home. The grasslands raced away from her in waves, covering the dense soil in life. Trees, at war with the wind, reached their great arms towards the sky, searching for lost ones which grew before. The great rock, answerable to no one, protruded from the ground, towering over the army of trees below it, sheltering them from the pounding waves of the wind, they whipped around it, crumbling it slowly, but surely, wearing it down until they could reach the flourishing paradise it guarded._

_A lone voice could vaguely be heard, laughing as the wind splits, running with it as they raced up the hill, whistling and shouting. Her hair was swept back by delicate arms, to light to be human, to heavy to be air._

_She laughed and turned as the wind pulled her further up the hill like a child excited to show her their new favourite toy. Her footsteps followed paths which have borne the shoes of those once passed, crisscrossing the land. The grass danced with the wind as it swayed back and forth, waltzing as she walked past, the crest of the hill neared, and with it, she heard the falls, the pounding of the great waterfall harmonised with the screaming of the wind._

_Her feet found the familiar paths of the hill, she ran with the wind, dancing with it as they raced up the hill, laughing as it pushed her up faster, hands grabbing her shoulders and pushing at her back until she stumbled. The last few rushed steps bring her to the crest. The world dropped below her. To her right stood the island's waterfall had helped to carve the path of the great river which divided the land in half. The falls battered the river bed attempting to force its way into the caverns hidden below with fists fueled by the water's eternal race to reach the bottom first._

_She caught her breath, laughing as the wind continued to push her further, just short of toppling her over the side. The wind ushered her up the hill as she ran along the path of the river to meet the torrents of water which rushed past her. Now she was racing the wind, and winning. When she reached the river bank she didn't hesitate before hopping onto the first rock to cross the river, she had been crossing it since she was young._

_One wrong move and she would be waist deep in the river and dragged with unforgiving arms over the edge. The ocean shore lies jagged, rocky outcrops, torn paper where they meet the rushing waves. Behind her, the cliff face rises sharply, graphite in the autumn sun._

_Between rock and wave, she stands intoxicated on the breath of mother earth, of nature and all the wonders she holds. The sprawling islands assert themselves in the heaving ocean with great roots that sink deep into the waves._

_The great beasts of the ocean couldn't navigate the narrow waters between the sleeping giants. The wind whipped round her, running its many fingers through her hair, forcibly turning her head to look, at a miniature island, churning in the space between giants, scrambling for any purchase in the sprawling water. It's great sail billowing as it drew the ship ever closer to shore._

_The ship sails ever closer to the village. Startling she spun, hesitating for a fraction of a second before she started running. Racing the ship to the village, she sprinted to the waterfall, flying over the stepping stones she laughed as the wind changed to follow her, screaming in her ears to go faster. She scrambled down the hill, feet barely scraping the old paths as she used the earth's pull to push her faster. Legs burning, a single though resonated through her head._

_She would get on that ship. No matter what._

Out of the tiny porthole, all that could be seen was the vast expanse of ocean between there and here. The sun pirouetted across the waves and laughed as it raced the white horses. It illuminated the water and highlighted the creatures that made it their home.

Without warning, the heavens opened and the ocean gladly welcomed the torrents of water cascaded from the sky. What had once been a calm and gentle breeze was whipped into a frenzy which pounded the rain against the ship, furiously attempting to break through the layers of wood to enter the cabin below.

As the rain grew angrier, the waves peaked higher and higher until they seemed to swallow the sky. A sky that was no longer bright and happy, but dark, brooding and furious.

**To see what she could see.**

She flinched as the air was illuminated, not by the warm rays of the sun, but the raw power of lightning. Although the roar of the storm was almost deafening, she could hear voices. Not the deep cries of the men battling nature on deck.

The voices were singing, female voices, soft voices, they sang of heartbreak, of betrayal and loss. She listened closer to the words, they spoke of her, how she would join them in the eternal blue. the voices washed over her and threatened to drown her like the storm outside of the ship that she was not welcome on.

Lost, in an onslaught of voices, the sound of quickly approaching steps was not recognised. As the song rose in tempo and volume the storm responded by slamming into the side of the ship in a frenzy, the arms of the ocean reaching to embrace her. The force of Aegaeon’s power shifted the contents of the hold violently to starboard, the barrels of wine threatened to crush her.

Through the new terrain within the ship that the storm had caused, she met a pair of eyes. The song came to an abrupt halt.

She had been found.

Fear was reflected in the man's eyes from her own, eyes that directed a burning beam of accusation onto her. The heat lessened for a moment as once again the deck shifted in the uneven water convulsing below, securing the man's decision as he roared to a fellow crew member that he had found one.

She had nowhere to run as a hand grabbed her arm and roughly pulled her towards the entrance of the hold. His iron grip did not relinquish as she struggled in an attempt to break free, her other arm was also then encased as she was dragged up the stairs which led to the deck.

**But all that she could see.**

As she was shoved onto the deck, the storm ceased to exist, like a puppet whose strings were cut. It was calm, eerily so, a false quiet resonated across the deck of the ship. All attention was directed towards her, the silence was only broken by her reluctant footsteps across the drenched planks. Unbridled fear and hatred, wound its way around each of the men on board, it conquered all weaker emotions and twisted itself into their very souls.

There was little use of begging here, it would only fall on deaf ears, intercepted by stories and men's inability to see the truth. A cry of pain was ripped out of her as she was thrown to the previously wind-torn deck. Although she hoped and wanted there to be an easy way out of this heinous situation, however, she knew that the only way that she would be leaving the ship would be a violent experience with her being introduced to the creatures of the deep.

Without warning, voices rang around the ship, voices that she thought were the creatures singing their song of despair once again. No, these voices were deeper, and human, it was the crew. They were singing, not singing, praying. A melodic chant filled the air, one that was of the old religion, it begged the gods to free them of the misfortunes that she had brought upon them. To cleanse them of her wrongs. To accept this sacrifice.

With silent horror, she understood, they were justifying the cruel fate they were going to throw her to. They were going to throw her to her death. With that sudden realisation, the song of the terrified crew was drowned by not only the song of those that lived at the bottom of the abyss, but the terrible wailing that was stirred by the reawakening of the ocean.

The ship was once again tossed in the arms of the previously sleeping giant. Anger returned to the sky as the clouds went to war with the wind, causing deafening crashes, as when Zeus struck his brother's domain. His fury lit up the desolate deck of the ship; it illuminated the fear ever-present on the faces of the crew.

The sea thrashed as she was grabbed by the men. They held her down as one tied a thick rope around her legs to prevent her from possibly surviving her encounter with what lay either side of the ship. She was lifted towards the side of the ship and raised as if to be thrown off.

The song of the sea rose in volume but then changed. No longer did the voices scream in anger or pain, they did not sing of the destruction that they could cause the ship. They sang of her, she was to become one of them, they encouraged her to let go of her previous life, her family, her home. All that she thought of when she met the deep water was that she would be fulfilling the destiny the voices sought for her.

**Was the bottom of the deep blue sea.**

The arms of the ocean enveloped her in a crushing embrace. Her weak arms desperately trying to stay afloat. Her legs immobile, dragging her downwards. Her own body strangling her. Trying to keep the water from piercing her lungs. She could barely register the creatures as she thrashed. They circled her, like vultures, waiting.

Then the light turned off.

The string was cut.

The world was lost to her.

It is said that there is life after death, she had once dreamed of walking in eternal bliss, but this. This was not the end she had wanted. She could never walk in Elysium, for she no longer could breathe the air of men, no longer could walk the shores of the mortals, no longer could speak the words of the living. The rope that once bound her, became a part of her salvation. The water that threatened to destroy her, became her home.

"The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?” - Edgar Allan Poe


End file.
